A few eyebrows were raised in February 2006 when linebacker Barrin Simpson was present and accounted for at a morning press conference to announce his new contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The reason people were curious was because the free-agency period had opened only 10 hours before, at midnight EST.

If the Bombers hadn't "tampered," which is expressing interest in a free agent before his contract expires, then how did Simpson know to fly into Winnipeg the night before and sign the contract at 1 a.m.?

Brendan Taman, who was then the Bombers general manager, still won't admit to this day that he tampered in the Simpson case, who had been a four-time CFL all-star with the B.C. Lions over the previous five seasons-- nor will he deny it.

The Edmonton Eskimos were dinged $10,000 on Wednesday for tampering in the case of defensive end Odell Willis, whose contract with the Esks was announced four minutes after the window opened. It was too quick for something to not have been worked out beforehand.

Taman, who is now the Saskatchewan Roughriders GM, laid out several reasons why he doesn't feel overly guilty about the Simpson situation from seven years ago. For starters, he said he actually saw a contract offer to Simpson from another team before Feb. 15, the day free agency began.

Secondly, Simpson was essentially a free agent already. Lions GM Wally Buono had already told Simpson that he wasn't going to be offered a contract to stay in B.C., which is probably why there was a contract offer from another team already on the table.

In addition, Simpson, who wasn't represented by an agent, wanted to play in Winnipeg and initiated the process. He paid for his own flight to Winnipeg the night before free agency began, and another CFL team called him as soon as he landed --before the window opened.

Taman said he was "talked to" by the league but was not fined.

The bottom line is the CFL is a small league. Everyone knows everyone, and just a few agents represent many players. People talk, and they know how to communicate ambiguously if they're really nervous about getting pinched for tampering.

The NFL this year has created a three-day window of what some are calling "legal tampering," where teams can contact agents of players--but not the players themselves--and negotiate deals. Nothing can be signed, however, until free agency begins.

It probably wouldn't hurt for the CFL to look into this as well, because in today's day and age of instant communication over a variety of platforms, there is absolutely no way the league can monitor it. And it happens all the time.

The Eskimos simply invited an investigation by announcing the Willis signing four minutes after the window opened, and it made the league look bad.

Good on the CFL for delivering the fine.

IN THE TRENCHES

It'll be interesting to see how the punting battle unfolds at Bombers training camp this year. The Blue and Gold signed Brett Cameron, the son of legendary Winnipeg punter Bob Cameron, to compete against veteran Mike Renaud. The interesting part is the elder Cameron has coached Renaud about kicking in Winnipeg the past few years and Brett has often been present. Now they'll be fighting one another for a job...The Eskimos have a boatload of Canadian defensive tackles on their roster, so it's not surprising to hear that Don Oramasionwu has been dangled as trade bait lately...The CFL Combine will be held March 22-24 in Toronto, and, as the latest Canadian Scouting Bureau indicated, this will be a good year to stock up on offensive and defensive linemen. Eleven of the top 15 prospects are linemen. There are very few "skill" position players who are studs this year, according to one league exec...Speaking of the annual talent evaluation, the league announced Thursday it will conduct a pair of regional combines in Edmonton and Quebec City leading up to the national event in Toronto. The top players at both of the regional combines could get invitations to travel to Toronto. The Edmonton combine will take place on Monday, March 18, while Quebec City's will be held on Wednesday, March 20.

Odell Willis-Eskimos tampering case has a similar feel to the Barrin Simpson signing in 2006

A few eyebrows were raised in February 2006 when linebacker Barrin Simpson was present and accounted for at a morning press conference to announce his new contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The reason people were curious was because the free-agency period had opened only 10 hours before, at midnight EST.

If the Bombers hadn't "tampered," which is expressing interest in a free agent before his contract expires, then how did Simpson know to fly into Winnipeg the night before and sign the contract at 1 a.m.?

About the author

Other Stories

Plenty of CFL personnel grumbled last season that there wasn't enough good Canadian talent to go around. Draft rule changes decreased last year's prospect pool, and the 30 new jobs for Canucks that were created when the Ottawa RedBlacks joined the league spread the talent out too much.